Saturday 29 October 2016

Less is More #300


Well hello LIMettes!
Can you believe we hit our 300th challenge today at Less is More!
That's one mahoosive achievement and heck of a lot of clean and simple
challenge ideas to come up with in that time! 

So it's a 5 week month and it's lucky dip time!
What's more we have a class-act super talented Guest Designer; it's
Julie B of Crafted by Jules and if you've never visited her blog then
you are most certainly missing a trick! Her cards are so full of unique 
inspiration and I do hope you'll drop by her blog and leave some love.

To commemorate our 300th challenge post we chosen the theme

Celebrations or Festivals

No problem can I hear you shout - loads of ideas out there and
no doubt we can expect a bumper turn out. 

Here's mine ...

Baby celebrations first and I have to admit that my mojo has taken 
a vacation recently without permission I might add so I've been watching
some You Tube videos and checking pinterest for ideas!


For this one I'd watched a tutorial by Julia Altermann of Just One More Card
and you can see it HERE! I decided to go with a heart die by Wplus9 and I
can't think of a more worthy celebration than a new baby. 

This uses:
Mama Elephant: Carnival Cupcakes stamps & dies
Clearly Besotted: Baby Love stamps & dies
Create a Smile: Underwater Love (for the sentiment)
Promarkers for colouring and some sparkling clear sequins by PPP.

... and another slight 'CASE' card - this time by Laura Bassen, shown HERE

This uses: 
MFT Die-Namics: High Rise number dies
Altenew: Painted Greetings
Memory Box: Cosmic Star dies
Distress inks in Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet

I also made a very similar card in a different colour way 



As usual the design team have worked their magic with some fabulous
creations and the links to their blogs can be found on the main 
Less is More blog HERE

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I'll catch up 
with you again soon!

Sarah

Friday 28 October 2016

Uniko Challenge #37


Hello there friends 
it's time for a quick reminder about our monthly challenge over at

Uniko

It's a colour challenge for this one and we've chosen 'Rainbow' which is
always a popular theme so hope you'll join in and play along.

Here's mine using a combination of floral stamps from various Uniko sets.


I masked off a circle to begin with to allow space for my sentiment then
stamped around it in various rainbow shades. I've used the Ranger dye inks
for this as they are crisp and vibrant although they stain stamps quite badly.
The sentiment is a combination from the All Occasion sentiments set and 
Celebrate with Cake. To finish some clear sparkly sequins.

As always the Design Team have created some rainbow magical cards
and there's links to their creations over on the main Uniko blog HERE

We've also got Hannelie (Desert Diva) joining us as our guest designer
for this month so hope you'll stop by her blog and leave some love.



Ok I hope you feel inspired to play along and I can't wait to see your
creations. I'm heading over to Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge
as it's Anything Goes (showcasing Lawn Fawn). My strip of design paper is by LF!

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


As always, thanks for calling by and I'll be back tomorrow with the
latest challenge for Less is More.
Sarah

Sunday 23 October 2016

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #76

Morning friends, it's time to announce a new challenge for the next 2 weeks
over at AAA Cards and our theme for this one is MASCULINE.

I've two cards to share with you today and first up it's one for 
my Dad's birthday! He loves watercolouring so I decided this cute
Easel die from Paper Smooches would work a treat here.


Other items used are:
Neat & Tangled Punchinella Die, Paper Smooches daddy yo
and 'Happy Birthday' sentiment from Avery Elle.

Next up ... it's always handy to have a couple of baby cards in the box!
 

This one uses the Petite Baby Shower set from Clearly Besotted with a 
heat-embossed sentiment from Mama Elephant: Just Hatched.


So here's a little photo inspiration for you and don't forget to pop along and
 visit my fellow teamies who have created some spectacular masculine makes!
The links to their blogs are on the main AAA Cards blog HERE plus we have 
one of our previous winners joining us as a Guest Designer for this challenge.
I do hope you'll pop along to visit Joyce's blog (Cards by The Sea)
and leave her some love and friendly comments!



Our lucky winner for this challenge will receive a prize from our
generous sponsors; Stampendous so I hope you'll join us.
Thanks as always for calling by and I'll catch up with you again soon.

Sarah

Saturday 22 October 2016

Less is More #299

Hi there LIMettes, are you ready for this week's challenge?
I hope so! It's recipe week at Less is More and we'd like you to
Use Acetate or Vellum

This one uses Pure Florals: Poinsettia and Simply Said Christmas by Uniko;
the sentiment and poinsettia are both heat embossed using WOW rich pale gold
and the inlaid frame die is by Paper Smooches.

I'd like to enter this for a couple of challenges too

 Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge - Emboss on Vellum
Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge - Embossing
   
            
and another entry for the Flower Challenge - Anything Goes with flowers





Here I've used some snowflake patterned acetate which is adhered
between the card stock at the top and bottom of the card.
The tree landscape die is from Clearly Besotted with the sentiment from
Happy Little Stampers - Christmas sentiments set. I've added a touch
of Tumbled Glass distress ink behind the acetate as the sky.

It's Anything Goes over at Addicted to Stamps and More
so I'd like to head over there with this card.
... and my last one has gone all pink!
The reason is ... I'd like to link it up at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge
Think Pink

I discovered the hearts border die in my stash which is how this card started
plus my Mum asked me for an Anniversary card! That's all it takes eh!
Then thinking pink I've torn strips of mottled pink and white vellum, overlapped
it and adhered it to a piece of card stock. Added some pink sequins and a few
embossed chevrons from Happy Little Stampers Mix Mash in Ranger Silver Platinum to
 tone in with the sentiment from Avery Elle which is heat embossed in the same. 

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


As always thanks for visiting my blog today and I'll be back tomorrow
morning with the latest challenge info for AAA Cards - hope to catch you then!



Sarah

Friday 21 October 2016

Uniko Challenge #37


Hello friends, can you  believe it's time for this month's challenge at

Uniko

I wish the clocks would slow down a little more than an hour next weekend
as I seriously need some catch-up time!

Anyway it's a colour challenge for this one and it's all about rainbows, which I love!


I've used the English Country Garden butterfly set with a sentiment from
Simply Said. To begin with I heat embossed the butterflies with Hero Arts
White EP then inky blended a rainbow of distress inks over the top.
A couple of flicks of water and perfect pearls and a few gems ... done!




So I hope you'll play along with us for this one and we've got a special A*
 talented Guest Designer for this month ... Hannelie (Desert Diva)
I'm sure you'll have visited her blog and checked out her awesome 
CAS designs - they're truly inspirational - if not you are missing a trick!

If you head over to the main Uniko blog HERE you'll find all the links
to my fellow teamies and all the details about how to join in and win a prize.

As always thanks for calling by today and have fun!


Sarah

Saturday 15 October 2016

Less is More #298

Hi friends are you ready for another challenge over at Less is More?

It's our THEME week and we've chosen 
Incy Wincy Spiders or Insects!

Now there's no need to go Halloween on this one but in the absence
of suitable insects and particularly spiders other than in Halloween 
sets I decided to go with that occasion. Fortunately my nieces and
nephews are still of an age where they'll accept Halloween Cards!
I think!!! Especially the sort with spiders!


This one uses the stitched filmstrip die by Pretty Pink Posh 
and I've re-cut it in the orange, green and purple (typically for Halloween)
to add my spiders web and spiders to each aperture. The card looked
a little bland when I'd finished so I decided to grab a stencil I've just
purchased by Tim Holtz and ink it through with Hickory Smoke Distress ink.
I still wasn't happy to decided to go full on distressing up the edges instead
then adding a few extra webs. The Happy sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers
and the reset of the images are by Clearly Besotted 'Halloween Spirit'

The theme over at CASology this week is 'Spooky' so I'd like to pop this card in there!





This one uses the 'In Print' set by Clearly besotted but couldn't resis
adding googlie eyes to the fingerprint spider! The sentiment is from
the Out of This World set also by Clearly Besotted and I was attempting
to CASE one of Jennifer McGuire's recent techniques shown HERE but
think I've not quite got my spacing right ... more practice needed!

So that's all of mine but please head over to the main blog HERE 
where there's links to my fellow teamies blogs and cards.
I'm sure they'd love a visit and they've worked their usual magic on 
the theme to inspire you!

Have a fab week and as always thanks for calling by my blog.



Sarah

Sunday 9 October 2016

AAA CAS Cards Challenge #75


Hi friends, are you ready for a new challenge over at 

AAA CAS Cards Challenge

I hope so ... we've got a super simple and pretty photo inspirabion below
for your get your teeth into and please keep your design Clean and Simple.


Recipe:
Neat & Tangled - Heart of Gold Die (got to be my favourite die)!
Coloured using Zig Clear Brush pens.
Sentiment and banner die by WPlus9

I was inspired by all the pretty colours in the photo inspiration and the
 multi-triangle shapes in this die reminded me of the shapes of the 'sails' in the image.


As always my teamies have worked their masking magic and you can
find links to their blogs HERE plus we are joined by another of our
previous winners and a super talented crafter too; it's 

Katerina of Make a Wish

I do hope you'll stop by her blog and leave some love!
Our sponsor for this one is Happy Little Stampers and if you want to be in 
with a shout of a $20 gift certificate to spend in their online store then 
please link your entries up by 22nd October! 

As always thanks for calling by my blog today and I can't wait
to see how you are inspired by the photo image. 

Sarah

Saturday 8 October 2016

Less is More #297

Hello friends, hope you've had a good week; I certainly don't know
where mine's gone - one minute it was Sunday, recovering from the 
Happy Stampers Festival and WOAH! It's Saturday again!

... which means it's time for a new challenge over at 
Less is More

and it's the 'dreaded one' - Yep all have a groan! Me too!

ONE LAYER card week with the theme DREAMS
To be honest I've got very little in my stash for this theme so it's
just the one card from me today and I've 'showcased' Dreamy sentiments.


I can't resist an excuse for a bit of inky blending with Distress inks
so the background features a bundle of my favourites and I've done the
irresistible (for me) spritzing and flicking with water and perfect pearls.
In fact I even brushed some gold perfect pearls over the top for added shimmer
but you can't see that in the photo. The sentiments are from Clearly Besotted:
Dandelion Dreams and they're heat embossed using Versafine Onxy and clear EP.
To finish there's a hand-drawn black border and some enamel dots; I'm regretting
adding those if I'm honest but daren't remove them for fear of the mess!

Edit: thanks again to Anita for suggesting I should enter this one over at




I hope you'll stop by my fellow teamies blogs as their cards are just 
oozing magic, fun and dreamy inspiration for you - the links are on the
main Less is More blog here and I'm sure they'd love a visit!

As always thanks for stopping by my blog today and hope to 
catch up again soon. Have a good weekend.
Sarah

Friday 7 October 2016

A Trio of Cards - just for fun!


Hi Friends, I don't often get time to create just for creating sake but today
I made a little time to finish off some cards that had been sat in pieces
on my desk for a while and what's more I'm hoping they'll fit into 
a couple of challenges too!

First up it's my fellow Less is More Teamie, Anita, who is playing MUSE this
week at the Muse Card Challenge so couldn't resist 'casing' her gorgeous card.
The colours are so neutral, calming and subtle ... quite the opposite to my usual
style but I've had a go!


In addition to the colours I was inspired by the shiny leaf die-cuts and design paper
peeping through the negative space. Here I've used a flourish die by Sizzix and instead
of using the design paper behind I've water-coloured a panel in Autumnal browns and 
greens using Distress Inks. I've splattered some gold and bronze paints too using the 
Gansai Tambi water colour set. The leafy die-cut is from my stash (sorry not sure of
the manufacturer) and it's coated in Versamark ink before heat embossing with Ranger
Liquid Platinum embossing powder. The sentiment is by Happy Little Stampers, which
is embossed using the same powder before popping up on 3d foam.


Here's Anita's card

I'd also like to enter this one at 

Addicted to CAS - Watercolour


The next two cards use two floral sets from Altenew that are my
favourites at the minute! Beautiful Day which I bought a couple of 
weeks ago having admired it for months (it seems) and Remember This
which I purchased last weekend at the Happy Stampers Festival.

I've also kept to a similar design as I'm loving the effect of a coloured
bloom or two with the remainder of the images in black outline.


So here's Beautiful Day inked with Altenew Inks also with the panel
cut from a WPlus9 die in the Sunshine Layers die set then popped up
on green fun foam for added dimension. I've added a black gem to the
centre of the flower and some glossy accents for added detail.

I'd like to pop this one in at Addicted to Stamps and More where it's
their CAS week of challenges plus


CASology where the cue card is Support


EDIT: Thanks to Anita for suggesting I enter my floral card in the 
latest challenge over at Virgina's View - Focus Point



 Last but not least - here's 'Remember This' by Altenew

 
again inked up using Altenew inks with the smaller blooms coloured
with Promarkers, in what I hope are almost identical shades!
I couldn't resist adding a few sequins to the design but looking at the
photo I'm kind of wishing I hadn't! 
So there's a brand new challenge in blogland simply called
The Flower Challenge
We would love you to display our banner !

What a perfect idea and a perfect name as who can resist all those
wonderful bloom sets out there and now there's a challenge just to showcase
those very things! Bliss! So I'm heading over there with this one and
it's their first challenge titled "Anything Goes With Florals" and there's a
whole month to enter so why not have a look and enter too!

Ok that's all for me today and thanks for calling by my blog.
Catch up soon!
Sarah

Saturday 1 October 2016

Uniko - Reveal, Release & Blog Hop - October 2016


Whoopie! It's here!

Uniko October Release

Here's my release day takes with the new sets and
don't forget to hop along to the Uniko blog HERE for links
to my fellow teamies who've worked their magic with the set too!


First up a shaker card using the centre circle of the largest image
from Marvellous Mendhi which is filled with gold seed beads.
The 'Celebrate' Sentiment is from a previously released All Occasion 
Sentiments set and the 'Your Day' is from the new Simply Said II


This one uses the Christmas Foliage set and I've sneaked a 'Happy' greeting
and gold mini foliage stamp from the 'Essentially Christmas' set which
was released in time for Christmas last year. The 'Christmas' greeting is
from the Simply Said II set - released today!

Anything Goes so I'm heading across there with this one.

Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog


... and a couple more using the Originally Organic set and if you don't 
like colouring then these images work just as well using the outlines only.


For this first one I watercoloured with distress inks to create my background then
spritzed with water and perfect pearls before adding the outline stamps using
Versafine Onyx Black ink and a sentiment from the new Simply Said II


With this one I stamped the images first using Versamark ink then heat embossed
in Silver Pearl EP by wow then added brushos with water over the top followed
by the 'bleaching' technique with water to remove the pigment from the buds,
leaves and petals. This time I sneaked in a sentiment from the 
Paradise: Hummingbird set.


I hope you feel inspired and will be heading straight to the Uniko shop to buy!
Before that you might want to join our traditional Release Day
 Design Team Blog Hop & GIVEAWAY!
Here's the order and if you get lost just head to the Uniko blog HERE
where you'll find all the links too.

Bev (AKA Uniko)
Deborah
Jane
Lindsey
Rahmat
Sarah G
Sarah P - that's me


Oh here's the images of the sets - it's always useful to see these eh!


   
   
 


Finally if you are lucky enough to be in the North of England today
then Bev, Lindsey and I will be manning the Uniko stand at the
Happy Stampers Festival in Port Sunlight!
We'd love to meet you and so do pop by if you make it!


As always thanks for stopping by and good luck with the hop!

Sarah